A Very Good Day

Two days into my 51st year (as my Dad used to calculate) and things are still nifty! Yesterday, because the weather was cool and breezy, we worked hard out in the yard. After many hours of raking, trimming and digging, I began to feel my age - actually more than my age. But that would have been true a month ago or a year ago, so everything is still good!

Sunday began with a phone call from my Mom. I am so very lucky to still have my mother calling me and singing me Happy Birthday on my 50th. That was followed by calls from my sisters Gail and Karen. Can laughing with family members be beaten? I doubt it. Although lots of cheerful comments from friends in the blogosphere comes close!

In the afternoon, Chuck and I drove out to Amherst and Hadley, not exactly sure what we would do when we arrived. Until we remembered a restaurant we hadn’t been to in many years and decided to check it out again. Judie’s is on North Pleasant Street in Amherst and is filled with the bright mixed media artwork of local artist Donna Estabrooks. Chuck chose the Seafood Gumbo and I opted for Drunken Scallops in a Mexican tomato amber Dos Equis sauce. We both had the Caesar salad to start. A popover comes with the dinners and was enormous and surprisingly sturdy. We’re used to the more tender popovers up at Jordan Pond House in Acadia. But these were very good, just a different style. The service was attentive without being intrusive. The food was creative - everything had a little twist which kept our palates not just interested but intrigued. Sitting at our table by the window, conversations and laughter from the other diners swirling around us, my best friend smiling back at me, I couldn’t have been happier.